Body Music Artists Bios
Raúl Cabrera Hernández (Cuba) is a singer specializing in vocal instrumentation of various styles - jazz, pop, Afro-Cuban, etc. - and holds the Order of Cuban Culture, the highest distinction awarded to artists by the Cuban Ministry of Culture. Raúl holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the Pedagogical University "Frank País" in Santiago de Cuba, and is currently specializing in the musical pedagogy of Orff Schulwerk. With Rolando Aliaga Berrio and Levis, he founded Trio Enserie in the 1990s, sharing stages with Pablo Milanés, Silvio Rodríguez, Compay Segundo, Javier Ruibal, Joaquín Sabina, and others. Currently he lives in Tenerife, Canary Islands, performing with CAMBUYÓN, a large ensemble show with great national and international success, and A Mano Limpia, performing at the International Body Music Festival.
Thanos Daskalopoulos (Greece) is a leading figure of tap dance and Body Music in Greece, while teaching and performing around the globe. Mentored by Heather Cornell and Max Pollak, his work focuses on the music from percussive body movement, fusing musical styles from jazz & funk, afro & latin, to his eastern and Balkan roots. Thanos is actively involved in the Athens jazz scene, collaborating with top Greek jazz artists like Petros Klampanis, Spyros Manesis, Yiannis Kassetas, Dimitri Vassilakis, Kostas Anastasiadis, Apostolos Leventopoulos, Periklis Trivolis, Serafim Bellos, Alekos Christidis; and he has shared the stage with international rhythm artists Heather Cornell, Max Pollak, Roxane Butterfly, Keith Terry, Fernando Barba, Guillem Alonso, Junior Laniyan, Leela Petronio and many more.
As a director Thanos created a jazz trio “Acoustic Movement,” where he uses body percussion and tap dance to create a “visual rhythm section” for original
compositions and traditional jazz tap material. Thanos is the co-founder, with Simone Mongelli, of the body music ensemble Kantu Korpu, that uses Greek traditions as a vehicle to create contemporary compositions and choreography solely with the human body. The group has been part of the International Body Music Festival since its international debut in 2011, collaborating with contemporary flamenco artist Yiota Peklari in 2011 & 2012 and traditional Greek singer Maria Alatsatianou in 2013. Artistic Director of Tapmotif, Thanos hosts tap and body music events for over a decade in Greece, as well as appearing at tap festivals around the world. With Yiota Peklari and Petros Kourtis, they run the non-profit organization “Playground,” teaching and performing rhythmic arts. Since 2001 Thanos is lead singer and featured tap dancer with one of the most recognized funk bands in Athens, “The Funkollectiv;” and has collaborated with Petros Kourtis’ Drum Voice, Seli Kanu African ensemble, Batuca Brazilian ensemble, Nina Lotsari, Katerina Polemi and others. Currently Thanos is a member of the dance and music group Cambuyon from Spain, which premiered at the New Victory Theater in New York. http://thanostap.wix.com/thanos_website
Bryan Dyers’ (USA) deep bass and solid beatbox straddles the vocal and rhythm sections with power and finesse. A multi-talented musician who not only sings, but plays and teaches several instruments including bass guitar, percussion and piano; writes and arranges music, conducts choirs and groups, and works in television, radio and film. A veteran of some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s top vocal groups including Street Sounds, SoVoSo, Slammin All Body Band, Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir and CHELLE! and Friends, he also performs with The Funk Revival Orchestra, Rankin Scroo and Ginger, and Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble. His music has him taken around the globe, including tours in Europe, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Jamaica, and legendary stages including Montreaux Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and Lincoln Center in New York. Bryan’s talents have landed him alongside such artist as Al Green, Bobby McFerrin, Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the soundtrack for the movie “La Mission”
with Benjamin Bratt, and Huey Lewis and The News. https://bryandyer.wordpress.com
Evie Ladin (USA) is a Body Musician and choreographer, as well as step dancer, banjo player, singer, songwriter and square-dance caller, with a lifetime of experience in traditional American cultural arts, and their contemporary interpretations. After graduating from Brown University with an Independent Major in African Studies in Dance, Evie was awarded Fulbright and Watson Fellowships to study in Nigeria. Evie went on to study dance in New York and Chicago, before touring nationally for ten years with Rhythm in Shoes music and dance ensemble, performing on some of the US’s finest stages. On relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, she began writing and playing more music, eventually combining all of these skills in detailed compositions that blur the line between music and dance. The polyrhythmic funk of Evie’s clawhammer banjo, resonant voice, real stories and rhythmic dance have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Celtic Connections, Lincoln Center to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass; and theaters, festivals and clubs all over the world. Based in Oakland, California, Evie tours solo, duo with Keith Terry, the Evie Ladin Band; and with Keith Terry’s projects – she is the Executive Director of the International Body Music Festival since 2008; and choreographs and performs with Crosspulse ensembles Corposonic and Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble. She has shared stages with Dr. Ralph Stanley, the New Lost City Ramblers, Emmy Lou Harris, Sandman Sims, Holly Near, Wavy Gravy and many more. Evie has recorded two solo CDs, as well as several with the all-gal old-time band the Stairwell Sisters, and Crosspulse projects Body Tjak, Professor Terry’s Circus Band Extraordináire, and Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble; plus two instructional DVDs: Buckdancing for Beginners and Part Two: Freestyle. With MoToR/dance ensemble she creates Body Music works specifically for camera. Evie has a fluid expressiveness in traditional Appalachian arts, even as she brings an urban edge and contemporary vision to her energetic performances. http://www.evieladin.com
Jep Meléndez (Spain) is a Body Musician, Tap & Sand Dancer and Choreographer trained as a tap dancer in Barcelona and New York, with additional training in jazz and classical dance and Afro-Cuban percussion. For 18 years Jep has been developing his own style of body percussion, choreographing and teaching around the world. Jep is the founder of the companies A Mano Limpia!, Terekitetap, Barcelona Rhythm Tap, Trash, Kösha and others. Most recently, he is the Artistic Director and performer in Cambuyon, which previewed at the 4th International Body Music Festival in 2011, and went on to premier in Tenerife and Barcelona, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013, and debuted off-Broadway in New York to great success in 2014. Jep was a lead dancer of the company Camut Band, in the shows “Keatoniana”, “Tambors”, "Life is Rhythm" and "Kiting-Kitá," which toured to theaters and festivals throughout Europe. He has appeared at numerous tap and other festivals, four years of the International Body Music Festival and tours to Boston; as well as directing the International Meeting of Body Music in Tenerife in collaboration with Keith Terry. http://www.cambuyon.net
LeeLa Petronio (France) was raised in the Paris and international tap dance scene, and is a tap dancer, body musician, choreographer, teacher and producer. Part of the European cast of STOMP since 2001, she founded the Hip Tap Project, a percussive dance ensemble whose work blends rhythm tap, hip hop, body percussion and live music. Her eclectic approach has led her to projects with the Cirque du Soleil in Italy, a tap concerto performed with a symphonic orchestra at the Paris Opéra Comique, Soul to Sole Festival in Austin, commissioned choreography (New York's "Tap City") for younger dancers at the Joyce Theatre. She has perfomed for the International Body Music Festival in San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Istanbul and Terni. Special guest performance with the Jazz Tap Ensemble at the Salzburg Jazz Festival and special guest with acclaimed French singer Camille at the Cirque d'Hiver. In 2012, she was part of the Olympics closing ceremonies with STOMP. In Paris she has performed at the Quai Branly Museum, Jamel Debouze’s Comedy Club, the Festival of Urban Cultures of La Villette, the Centre National de la Danse, the Maison des métallos.
LeeLa studied with tap masters Sarah Petronio, Jimmy Slyde and Steve Condos. and has shared the spotlight with tap greats Honi Coles, Cholly Atkins. Chuck Green, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines, Ted Levy and Lon Chaney. She performsed"Jazz in Motion" with Sarah Petronio at New Morning in Paris, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Barcelona, "Perth International Arts Festival" in Australia, "Tap Dance Day 2004" at the Kennedy Center in Washington. LeeLa has taught rhythm tap and body music to hundreds of students at workshops around the world, and at many of the international tap festivals in the USA. In France she works regularly with professional multi-disciplined dancers at the French National Dance Center. http://hiptapproject.e-monsite.com
Keith Terry (USA) is a percussionist/rhythm-dancer/educator whose artistic vision has straddled the line between music and dance for more than four decades. As a soloist he has appeared in such settings as Lincoln Center, Bumbershoot, NPR’s All Things Considered, PRI's The World, the Vienna International Dance Festival, and the Paradiso van Slag World Drum Festival in Amsterdam. His groups – Slammin All-Body Band, Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble, Professor Terry’s Circus Band Extraordinaire, and Body Tjak (with I Wayan Dibia) – have performed in a variety of venues, including Joe’s Pub, WNYC, and Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors (NY); Grand Performances, LACMA Jazz, the Roxy, and the Skirball Center (LA); SFJazz, Vancouver Island MusicFest, and the Bali Arts Festival. Keith has performed with artists including Charles “Honi” Coles, Turtle Island Quartet, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Kenny Endo, Freddie Hubbard, Tex Williams, Robin Williams, and Bobby McFerrin. As a producer he has created 6 CDs, 7 DVDs and a Book on Crosspulse Media. Keith tours extensively in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, where his Body Music performances, workshops, residencies and choreographic commissions are popular among professional performers and educators. From 1998 to 2005 Keith was on the faculty at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures. In 2006 he conceived and directed the first International Body Music Performance Project for
the Orff Institute in Salzburg, Austria. In 2010 Keith was on the Dance Program faculty at UC Berkeley. Keith Terry is the founding Artistic Director of International Body Music Festival (IBMF), an annual six day festival exploring the language of body music from culture to culture that has been produced in the US, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia and Italy. Keith is a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow, as well as the Founding Director of Crosspulse, an Oakland, California-based, non-profit organization, dedicated to the creation and performance of rhythm-based intercultural music and dance. http://www.crosspulse.com